Where I Stand

My concerns about Markham - Lyon Chan

Where I Stand

My concerns about Markham - Lyon Chan

What Needs to be Changed

I believe that the municipal government of Markham must act and help develop a more intelligent plan to execute these three services provided by the municipal government: Markham's Animal Services, Wildlife Protection, and Waste Management.

Animal Services

I believe that there should be more and better equipped animal shelters. I believe that we should not have pet stores so that people would have to adopt animals. This would help reduce the amount of stray animals. Also, if we have better equipped shelters, animals would be able to be better taken care of. We should also raise more awareness for these stray animals and set up more adoption centers. If we put this plan together, it would benefit the community and its animal population greatly.

Wildlife Protection

I believe that there should be more strict laws on wildlife protection. The city should raise more awareness for endangered animals and habitats and should let citizens know how they can help the cause. There should be more conservation areas for endangered species and it should be made more obvious to where they are so that citizens know where they are. If our homes are infested with wildlife, we should have more obvious options of removal in a humane way while releasing back the wildlife into somewhere safe. Many times, it costs hundreds of dollars of removal and sometimes it's even illegal to remove wildlife families from its current state, so there should be some law that protects homeowners from these wildlife and removal from homes, while also protecting these animals to let it live in a better environment. Markham should build more conservation areas and raise more awareness to these problems and easy solutions that the city can provide for its citizens.

Waste Management

I believe that we should have a better ran waste management system. Usually, the people who pick up garbage come late in my neighborhood. Also, the way that they handle the bins are very reckless and have destroyed or chipped part of the bins that I owned. (It is inconvenient and a waste of time to go to the bins replacement center, so most of the time, my family just buys a completely new bin for a hefty price.) Also, limiting the garbage and only allowing clear plastic bags are a clear violation of privacy. Some people would have privacy items and it would be unreasonable for them to be shown. Also, this may cause further problems because if someone could go up to your garbage and inspect it which would be a invasion of privacy and they may also find information about you if they look through your trash. Another concern I have about the waste management is that some products need to be disposed of at a certain place and will not be accepted such as electronics, furniture, metals and medical waste. For electronics, we pay a certain fee when buying these items called the Environmental Handling Fee, that includes the fee of operation, shipping, storage and collection. We pay to have these electronics to be disposed of when it's not of use to us anymore, but it isn't collected by regular waste or even if a person from the city will pick it up, we have to bring the waste ourselves. I believe that there should be a system where these items will be picked up by municipal representatives monthly.